Instructions for web - Gifkins Dovetail Jig

27 THIN STOCK. The easiest way to work with stock thinner than 7 mm for the “A” templates or 14 mm for
under the workpiece before clamping the workpiece in place. See drawing.
This spacer is then removed before you start cutting. Set the height of the cutter above the template to
the thickness of the stock PLUS the thickness of the spacer (or just a bit more) eg. to dovetail 5 mm stock
using an “A” template you could use a 3 mm spacer and set the cutter height to about 8.5 mm above the
template. When using this method it is necessary to use two clamps to hold the workpiece. IMPORTANT:
What we are trying to do here is make sure we have at least 2 mm of bearing above the table for the
template to run against.
28 WORKING WITH WIDE BOARDS: The maximum width of stock for the various templates is given in the
table on page one. If your project requires a greater width, it is possible to move the board along after
cutting some of the joint, however this requires very careful re-positioning of the board, and this is not a
technique that I recommend. A much easier way is to work with narrower boards and to glue them up after
all the joinery is finished. It is best to glue up all four sides of each half box and then glue the two half
boxes together. This way you can sand or plane the joining edges flat and flush before gluing the two
halves together.
If you wish to dovetail a
board wider than 300 mm, it
can be done if you cut some
of the joint and then move
the board sideways. To re-
position the board
accurately, clamp the board
workpiece
in roughly the right place and
then turn the cutter by hand
in one of the previous cuts,
making sure the cutting tips
touch both sides of the
previous cut. Re-adjust the
board sideways if necessary.
Work
piece
spacer
Looking down on jig
Another way of working with
thin stock is to set the
cutter higher than the
thickness of the stock, so
that the ends protrude.
This way you don’t need the
spacer but you do need to
clean up the protruding ends.
You need to allow extra for
this when cutting your stock
to length.
Joinery finished Glued up
8